Lamp shade



M. R. LEWIS LAMP SHADE June 8, 1954 2 Shee ts-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 5, 1949 M. R. LEWIS LAMP SHADE June 8, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 3, 1949 I ive/72 0) 7772/7 5; $952,201; @7

Patented June 8, 1 954 LAMP SHADE.

Murray R; Lewis, Glencoe, Illa, assignor-to Rembrandt Lamp Corporation, Chicago, 111., a conporation of Illinois Application December 949, c ialNm 130,993.

3 Claims. 1

My invention contemplates and provides a decorative lamp shade having integrated therewith an appropriately supported, objet dart in sheet form, e. g., a pictorial print or etching or'the like, which functions as a lamp shading wall portion of the shade and at the same time is effectively aesthetically indirectly illuminated by the electric light bulb or bulbs, or other light source or sources, with which the shade is associated;

Anobject of my invention is to provide a simple, sturdy and generally desirable and satisfactory ecorative lamp shade of the kind aforementioned.

Another object of my invention is to provide such a decorative lamp shade which need be inno wise weakened because of the circumstance that the shade afiords a fenestration through which the indirectly illuminated print or etching or other objet dart appears as an inset background screen.

Another object of my invention is to provide unobtrusive and substantially concealed background screen supporting struts which are easily effectively applied to the parts with which they cooperate.

Other objects, features and, advantages of my invention will appear from the'detailed description to follow wherein. reference is made to the accompanying two sheets of drawings in which Fig. 1 is an outside elevational View of a lamp shade that is an illustrative embodiment of my invention;

i 2 s a p plan view of thesame;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary outside elevational view comparable with Fig. lv but showing the shade turned ninety degrees on its vertical axis from its position depicted in Fig. l

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view, on enlarged scale, taken in the plane of the line li of Fig. 3 and looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view, on enlarged scale, taken in the plane of the line 55 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

Fig. 6 is an inside view of the shade, partly in section and partly in elevation, taken in the vertical planes of the line 66 of Fig. 2 and looking in the directions indicated by the arrows, this view showing a corner portion of th fenestration background plate broken away to reveal the shade fenestration which otherwise would be concealed in this figure; and I Fig. 7 is a fragmentary detail view, on enlarged scale, taken on the line l-lof; Fig. 5 and looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Although a lamp shade of my present invention may have any one of a number of over-all shapes. I have chosen to depict an. illustrative embodiment of'the invention which is generally frustoconical; In forming a shade of this popular overall shape, Itnay utilize a principal shade Wall I6,

desirably formed of cardboard or parchment, which has been conformed to the desired frustoconical form and provided at top and bottom with metallic or equivalent stiffening rings I! and 12. Principal wall is suitably but not necessarily, is provided with an. external textile fabric sheath 1 3. Annularly conformed, textile fabric binding strips of generally U-shaped cross-section suitably bind the upper and lower edges of principal wall It! to the rings H and i2; as indicated at M and i5. A conventional or other suitable shade-supporting spider is depicted; at It. An electric light bulb with which the shade is associated is indicated by broken lines at ll Fig. 2, and in the same figure is, indicated by broken lines at l 8,, a table or other lamp Whichsuitably supports, the shade and bulb I? appropriate relationship, with the latter disposed sub an i lly ntrally within, th ormer.

As thus far described my improved shade is or may be. onv ntional- I. sh llnow describ tho of its features. which, in my opinion, accord it patentable novelty.

Form d. in principal: shade wall is, and it sheath l3 if. anmisa fen s ra on. 29;. Fenestration. 2 desirably s f. substantial area and suitab m but not. n c ssarily, f a. poly onal shap When nrincinalwall lllis of the illustrated frustoccnical hape fene ration 2e appropri tely has horizontal upper an lower d es. of unequal lengths and downwardly diverging side edges.

At 2| is depicted a fenestration background plate. This plate 2! is preferably formed of rather stiff sheet metal. Its shape is similar to that of the fenestration but each of its edges is substantially longer than the corresponding edge of the fenestration. Plate 2i is inset from principal wall [0 with the edges of the plate in symmetrical overlapping relationship to the boundaries of fenestration 20. Background plate 2! is contoured similarly to the principal shade wall with which it is associated. When, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the principal shade wall I ii is frusto-conical, the background plate is suitably concavo-convex to present to fenestration 20 a surface that corresponds substantially with a portion of a surface of a cone. Were the shade wall, which affords the fenestration 20, plane, the background plate 2| suitably would present a plane surface to the fenestration.

Adhered or otherwise appropriately mounted on that face of background plate 2| that is presented to fenestration 2|! is an objet dart 22, in sheet form, such as a pictorial print, etching or the like.

Background plate 2|, along with its objet dart 22, is held in shade-stiffening inwardly-spaced relationship to the boundaries of fenestration 22 by unobtrustive and substantially concealed instrumentalities which desirably take the form of substantially Z-shaped strap meta-l struts 23. A plurality, suitably three, of these Z-shaped struts, substantially spaced apart, cooperate with the upper edge portion of plate 2| and the opposed upper margin of fenestration 20, while another plurality of these struts, similarly spaced apart, cooperate with the lower edge portion of plate 2| and the opposed lower margin of fenestration 20. Each of the upper plurality of Z-shaped struts has one of its parallel ends welded or equivalently secured to the rear face of the upper edge portion of plate 2|, its other end lying against the outer surface of the upper boundary of the fenestration 2%, and its intermediate portion extending upwardly and inwardly from the upper edge of such fenestration. Each of the lower plurality of such Z-shaped struts has its ends comparably related to the rear of the lower edge portion of plate 2|, and to the exterior of the lower boundary of fenestration 20, but has its intermediate portion extending inwardly and downwardly from the lower edge of such fenestration.

The objet dart 22 is attractively circumscribed, and the outer ends of Z-shaped struts 23 are concealed and held against slippage along their associated edges of the fenestration 2i], and the several edges of the fenestration 20 are accorded substantial rigidity for better shade-stiffening cooperation with plate 2| and the Z-shaped struts, by a fenestration framing rim 24 suitably formed of the same material as principal wall H) and adhesively secured to the latter. When wall H! has a textile fabric sheath l3, framing rim 24 suitably may be provided with a similar, noncontrasting or contrasting, textile fabric covering 25.

When the shade is in use the fenestration background plate 2| functions, in the accomplishment of the lamp shading purpose, substantially as normally would the portion of principal wall in that I have removed to afford fenestration 20; but such background plate 2|, by reason of its inset and spaced and overlapping relationship to the margins of fenestration 20, permits light rays from lamp I! to fall on the objet dart 22 after being reflected to it by the contiguous inner portions of principal shade wall ID, with the result that such objet dart appears attractively illuminated when viewed through framed fenestration 20.

Having thus exhibited and described a presently preferred embodiment of my invention, I wish to claim and cover all other embodiments of such invention as defined by the subjoined claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. A lamp shade comprising a translucent endless circular wall for the partial transmission of light therethrough and for the reflection of light from the inner surface thereof, said wall being provided with an opening, an arcuate opaque plate supported by said wall interiorly thereof opposite to and in spaced relation to said opening and being concentric to the axis of said wall, said plate being of a dimension greater than that of said opening, whereby upon mounting of the shade in surrounding relation to a light source, light rays reflected from the inner surface of said wall will illuminate the outer face of said plate which is visible through said opening.

2. The structure according to claim 1 wherein said opening is defined by rectangular edges and said plate is rectangular and whose edges are of greater length than the corresponding edges defining the opening, and said plate being supported from said wall by means of a plurality of struts, some of which are engaged with corresponding upper edges of the plate and opening and others of which are engaged with corresponding lower edges of the plate and opening, the struts having inner end portions rigidly secured to the rear face of said plate, and outer end portions freely engaged with the outer face of said wall, and the intermediate portions of the struts engaging said upper and lower edges of the plate and opening.

3. The structure according to claim 2, together with a rectangular frame member adhesively secured to the outer face of said wall in surrounding relation to the opening and concealing said outer end portions of the struts and maintaining same in fixed position relative to said wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent,

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,467,689 Scherer Sept. 11, 1923 1,488,236 Duck Mar. 25, 1924 1,593,305 Kulka July 20, 1926 1,633,785 Hotchner June 28, 1927 2,177,204 Buzick et al Oct. 24, 1939 

